It's now known that Hammer will launch with full Red Hat Linux support. “Red Hat will provide native 64-bit support for processors based on AMD's x86-64 technology, while providing support for existing 32-bit Linux-based applications.” Red Hat, Inc. and AMD made the joint announcement at LinuxWorld 2002 in San Francisco, California. AMD's press release says Red Hat will support both Opteron and Hammer Athlons (still called just “AMD Athlon” by AMD) using “Red Hat Linux Advanced Server as well as future enterprise Linux offerings from Red Hat.” AMD states several times that their target for Opteron is Enterprise class computing needs. Some listed benefits to Hammer's architecture are:

I guess you just missed this one Rick?(1:25pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW), taking another step away from its hardware heritage, is adopting Intel Corp. (INTC) chips for a low-end line of server systems that will run the free Linux operating system or Sun's Solaris software, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.

Sun, Palo Alto, California, was later than rivals such as IBM and Hewlett- Packard Co. in making a big marketing push around Linux. But it is trying to make up for lost time. Its chief executive officer, Scott McNealy, will deliver one of the first keynotes at the LinuxWorld show.

Not newsworthy compared to that amd/redhat news, eh?- by do_your_homework

Re: do_your_homework(3:18pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)Perhaps you should do your home work. The “Submit News” link is on the main geek.com page.

- by Done_my_homework

Do_your_homework(5:27pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)

Two words immediately spring to mind: thank you. :)

I don't generally follow Sun's press releases. I typically follow Intel's and AMD's on a daily basis. But, as Done_my_homework suggests, you can always submit newsworthy items at . Those are inspected daily by the writers.

Take care and keep on reading.

- by Rick C. Hodgin

hammer os(5:36pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)in order to run a clawhammer, will you need to have a 64-bit capable os, or will you be able to run it on something like WinXP Pro (not the upcoming 64-bit version)? - by 318ti

You could run regular 32-bit windows(5:47pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)Hammer is backwards compatable so you can run any of the 32-Bit window's, (I doubt any one would install 98 on a Clawhammer machine, but who knows). It aslo has the capablility to run 64-bit OS's that are ported to x86-64 (hammer's instructions set) - by Specter

hammer os(5:55pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)would you get much of a performance increase on a hammer chip on a 32-bit OS over a 32-bit chip (Barton, for instance)on the same OS? I just wondering if it would worthwhile to wait for this chip if one plans to just use it for 32-bit apps. - by 318ti

318ti(7:32pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)

Hammer includes an on-die memory controller and SSE2 extensions. For most software applications you would get a 10-15% speedup just by running it on Hammer (compared with an Athlon XP), and possibly even more if you run SSE2 optimized apps.

However, in order to utilize the full functionality of Hammer (additional general purpose registers, SSE2 registers, larger memory access and support for 64-bit software) you would need to run a native 64-bit OS. But, MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/ME/2K/NT/XP, 32-bit Linux, etc., will run on it without problems.

One of Hammer's biggest strengths is that buyers don't need to upgrade their software at the same time they upgrade their software. They can buy the equipment today and see a speedup. They can buy the 64-bit OS tomorrow and run future 64-bit code, as well as the 32-bit code they have today. The investment can be spread out over time so you're not hit with a huge upgrade expense all at once. And, it will run faster on all of the code. 10-15% without a recompilation for 64-bit. 20-25% with a recompilation.

- by Rick C. Hodgin

Cool!(7:55pm EST Tue Aug 13 2002)God Bless Linux. - by I Forgot…………

Rick(12:04am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)“buyers don't need to upgrade their software at the same time they upgrade their software”

Isn't that a Microsoft trick?- by NoM$KissAss

Free as in Free Beer(1:10am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)Will it be free for download to anyone with a cable modem and burner? - by ArcherB

I think it is safe to assume(4:29am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)that there will be many free beer linux distros for x86-64 (and IA64 and …. etc.) The ones that are serious about it will do their best to recompile as much of the distro to x-86-64 as possible.

- by Nathan

what is subported?(6:10am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)I've read a about Linux/FreeBSD, $#!+XP…What is the compleat list, or is that it for know?QNX?SCO-UNIX?$#!+98/ME?UNICOS…ya-right?etc…

I'm just courios How maney OS's are going Hammer-Compatable, vs IA64?

Will “seti@home” be upgraded to utalize this creation.- by zarcondeegrissom

Specter(6:57am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)(I doubt any one would install 98 on a Clawhammer machine, but who knows)

I'm runing $#!+98 on an 1.2GHz Machine due to it's size and memory usidg with out anney swap/page file. I will never install a OS that consumes 1024MB of HDD space unless it will out preform a 50-200MB 98 instolation on the same heardweare.

There is so much stuff in XP that can not be disabled that robes me of my preshios Cycles, where somthing smaller dos everything I nead it to without all the fancy never used features.

Besides if I realy nead to do some real work…FreeBSD & QNX are siting on the other Boot-Drive Partitions. - by zarcondeegrissom

It just hit me.(10:20am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)Fairly off subject… can we stop calling this new AMD processor the sledgehammer? Honestly, I feel like AMD is starting to take me for an idiot. The sledgehammer is a fabled processor that will never be created. The sledgehammer is a slot athlon with up to 8MB of cache. It is a ghost. AMD first rumored it when the K6-3 was out. At best this new processor can be called Sledgehammer v 2.0. - by SDB

“software” …. “software”(10:41am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)

Uhhh … D'oh!

- by Rick C. Hodgin

x86-64 = useless?(11:56am EST Wed Aug 14 2002)- by Askheart

Hmmm(2:32am EST Thu Aug 15 2002)“They can buy the equipment today and see a speedup. They can buy the 64-bit OS tomorrow and run future 64-bit code, as well as the 32-bit code they have today. The investment can be spread out over time so you're not hit with a huge upgrade expense all at once.”

Oh yeah, most certainly you can buy a hammer today, and in six years when there is a significant amount of 64 bit software to run, contemporary machines will kick your six year old hammers ass for half the price. You'll wonder why the heck you bothered. Show of hands please, anyone running a 3-4 year old CPU and thinking they're glad they stretched out that purchase? How about six?

and

“And, it will run faster on all of the code. 10-15% without a recompilation for 64-bit. 20-25% with a recompilation”

Also known as “a wild ass guess that is as likely to be wrong as right, stated as fact, which it most certainly is not”.

Didnt John Carmack say that many current apps run on a 64 bit architecture might actually run slower and that recompilations to get speed increases would 'take more effort than the result is worth'?

Sorry Rick, I'm sure you're a fine guy, but I know John Carmack and you're no John Carmack. - by Big Bob

Sun and AMD(2:35am EST Thu Aug 15 2002)And Sun sells more servers in a month than AMD has sold since its inception…guess any semblance of reputation that you keep up with tech news begins and ends with intel and amd?

Shot your wad already after those AMD press releases and didnt have the interest to read more than that? - by PpH

Big Bob, I'm not The Carmack, but…(4:27am EST Thu Aug 15 2002)Here's a part of my comments on the forementioned linked thread:

“To sequel, a conversion when done properly can state the mantissa, sign, and expoent back. Note that x86-64's 64-bit transfers between general purpose registers and the x87 stack or XMM registers are very fast, because it takes advantage of AMD's improved 64-bit datapath . Note also that the x86 instruction set does have a lot more instructions than the SIMD set, thus why AMD's 64-bit general purpose register set is an interesting idea while doing high precision operations (that even the average desktop user should benefit from), not only when just accessing upper levels of external memory (contrary to an erroneous information that a well known game programmer stated a while ago).”

You should read it before, baby [wink] - by Askheart

Carmack is not my hero.(10:17am EST Thu Aug 15 2002)He is just a programmer. Why are people so stupid and fanatic? - by The Iceman

printer(7:23am EST Mon Jul 19 2004)I want an inexpensive printer to use with Red Hat Linux. Can you recommend. I know practically nothing about computors. - by confused